Tobirama Senju (千手扉間, Senju Tobirama) was the Second Hokage (二代目火影, Nidaime Hokage, Literally meaning: Second Fire Shadow) of Konohagakure. Alongside his brother, the First Hokage, who founded Konoha, Tobirama worked behind the scenes to achieve political stability and implement the institutions that made the village work, thus ensuring Konoha's prosperity.

Contents

Background

Tobirama and his family.

Tobirama was born during the Warring States Period, the second of Butsuma Senju's four sons. Hashirama and his brothers grew up on the battlefield waging constant war with the Senju's rivals: the Uchiha. After the deaths of their brothers, Kawarama and later Itama, Tobirama and his older brother, Hashirama, decided a new shinobi system would need to be implemented to end the cycle of child deaths, a system that would require an alliance between the warring clans.[5] Despite his approval for the idea, Tobirama didn't allow it to interfere with his, or his brother's, responsibilities; when Hashirama got into the habit of disappearing into the forest during the day, Tobirama accepted his father's assignment to follow Hashirama and find out what he was doing.

Tobirama and his father fighting Izuna and Tajima.

From tracking Hashirama, Tobirama discovered that he was meeting with a boy named Madara, a young Uchiha. After Tobirama reported this to their father, Butsuma pressured Hashirama to lead Madara into an ambush arranged by himself and Tobirama. Upon springing the trap, however, they were met by Madara's family, who had similar plans; while their fathers clashed, Tobirama fought Izuna, Madara's younger brother.[6] Hashirama and Madara were able to negotiate a temporary ceasefire, allowing all of them to walk away without bloodshed. In the years following their families would continue to clash, Hashirama against Madara and Tobirama against Izuna. But where Hashirama could never bring himself to kill Madara, Tobirama did not have the same relations with Izuna, and as such eventually mortally wounded him.

Tobirama about to kill Madara.

Hashirama, by then the leader of the Senju, tried to use Izuna's fate to broker peace between their clans, but Madara — at Izuna's behest — refused. His refusal increasingly became the minority view, with individual Uchiha siding with the Senju in growing numbers. After Izuna succumbed to his injuries, Madara, wracked with grief, made one final stand against the Senju and was summarily defeated. Tobirama attempted to kill Madara to finally end the fighting, but Hashirama stopped him, knowing that would only renew hostilities between the Senju and Uchiha. Madara offered to surrender if Hashirama would kill himself or Tobirama.[7] Hashirama agreed to take his own life, and as he made preparations he instructed Tobirama, despite his protests, not to seek retribution. Madara ultimately withdrew his request and agreed to peace.

The Senju, the Uchiha, and all their affiliated clans came together to found Konohagakure, a village of peace where children would never need to die in battle.[8] Although Hashirama was optimistic about the village's future, Tobirama remained realistic about how that future would be achieved knowing that it was not enough to simply bring all these clans together. He believed the Uchiha — Madara in particular — threatened that future. When Hashirama wanted to give Madara the position of Hokage, Konoha's leader, Tobirama forced him to open the selection to a democratic process rather than appointing a leader, leading to Hashirama's election instead.[9] Tobirama would continue to act as the voice of reason throughout Hashirama's tenure; during the first Kage Summit, Hashirama wanted to give Konoha's tailed beasts to the other newly-formed villages for free, but Tobirama insisted that the villages pay for the tailed beasts they received.[10]

Hashirama with Tobirama and his team.

Despite Hashirama's headstrong leadership, the new system of ninja villages achieved peace for a time. Tobirama was able to start training his own three-man team consisting of Hiruzen Sarutobi, Homura Mitokado, and Koharu Utatane.[11] Techniques he had created, such as the Shadow Clone Technique and Summoning: Impure World Reincarnation, he outlawed, their use no longer being needed. But peace would ultimately be temporary; Madara challenged Hashirama's authority and the two fought at what would become the Valley of the End. When Madara was killed in the battle, Tobirama took his body in order to study the Sharingan, and then buried it in an unmarked grave.[12] Conflicts would start emerging elsewhere in the world, and it was during one of these that Hashirama would die.[1] Before his death, he passed the title of Hokage to Tobirama and left him instructions to not mistreat the Uchiha.[13]

Tobirama's role as Hokage was to help Konoha's shinobi transition from valuing their clan above all else to valuing the village as a whole.[14] To this end he created such institutions as the Academy, the Anbu, and the Chūnin Exams. While largely successful, enough that other villages adopted the same organisations,[3] the Uchiha resisted the loss of their autonomy. Already wary of the Uchiha because of his history with Madara, Tobirama created the Konoha Military Police Force for the Uchiha to run, publicly as a sign of trust but primarily so that the Uchiha could focus their energies into something beneficial. Others, however, would come to see this as a way to marginalise the clan.[15]

Tobirama and his team during the First Shinobi World War.

Like Hashirama before him, Tobirama tried to foster good relations with the other villages. He planned an alliance between Konoha and Kumogakure, but during a formal ceremony he and the Second Raikage were attacked by the Gold and Silver Brothers and left near death.[16] Konoha and Kumo eventually ended up on opposing sides during the First Shinobi World War. While on a mission during the war, Tobirama, his team, as well as Danzō Shimura, Torifu Akimichi, and Kagami Uchiha (one of the few Uchiha to move beyond his clan) found themselves surrounded by Kumo's Kinkaku Force. With no way for all of them to escape, Tobirama volunteered to act as decoy. He passed the title of Hokage to Hiruzen before sending them off, and died a noble death.[17]

Personality

Tobirama was a composed individual with a pragmatic approach to life. He believed that, through well-defined rules and laws, many of the world's problems could be solved.[5] In many ways he was a counter to his older brother, Hashirama; when Hashirama would get carried away with his headstrong optimism, it fell to Tobirama to mediate and force a more realistic alternative. Hashirama was typically disappointed by Tobirama's intervention, but he usually agreed without much protest;[18] on the rare occasions he disagreed, it was a sign that Tobirama was getting out of line, creating a mutual balance.[19] Tobirama likewise, despite how often he needed to undermine his brother and his personal opinion that Hashirama was something of an idiot,[20] greatly loved and respected him, and if anything wanted Hashirama to respect himself the same way he and others did.[21]

Tobirama enraged by Sasuke's intent to destroy Konoha.

Tobirama was a firm believer in the Will of Fire, a philosophy that held that all villagers of Konoha were part of a family. Any who threatened Konoha were subject to his rarely-seen but unbridled rage.[22] As Hokage, it was not only his responsibility to protect that family at all costs but also to encourage the disparate villagers of the same view: that Konoha's concerns were more important than their clan's.[14] It was for this reason that he came into conflict with the Uchiha and Madara so frequently, as he felt they too often valued their own desires over others'.[23] This often gave him the appearance of being prejudiced against the clan and its members,[24] but he was in fact perfectly happy to cooperate with any Uchiha that could overcome their so-called "Curse of Hatred"; he believed Kagami Uchiha was a perfect example of this transcended Uchiha.[25]

Though they only knew each other for a short time, Tobirama and Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage, got along well. Their mutual respect for each other seemed founded on their similarities, both of them famously moving and thinking quickly on the battlefield.[26][27] While their actual personalities were quite different, Tobirama was nevertheless amused by Minato's complicated names for techniques, such as the "Spiralling Flash Super Round Dance Howl Style Three".[28]

Appearance

Tobirama's full appearance.

Tobirama was a fair-skinned man with white, shaggy hair and dark-coloured eyes (depicted as red in the anime). He had three red markings on his face, one under each of his eyes and one on his chin. In combat, he wore blue armour with a distinctive white fur collar over a simple black suit. This armour was constructed from numerous metal plates, formed into multiple protective guards along his body. Beneath his shoulder armour he wore two bands on each arm. This clothing was accompanied by sandals and a happuri in place of the more traditional forehead protector. The happuri was initially engraved with Senju's emblem, which was later replaced with Konoha's.

In his official Hokage portrait, Tobirama was seen wearing the usual all-white haori with a blue undershirt, similar to his brother.[29] His casual outfit was a simple, short-sleeved, blue shirt kimono with mesh armour underneath and held closed by a pale yellow sash., This casual attire included blue pants and a bracelet of sorts on his left hand.

As a child, he wore a pair of pin-striped pants and shirt which left his arms exposed. He also did not have the markings on his face.[30] In battle, his armour was constructed from green metal plates that covered his torso, lower behind, and groin alongside fishnet armour around his wrists and shins.[31]

Physical and Chakra Prowess

Tobirama was hailed as the fastest shinobi during his lifetime, and in fact earned praise from Konoha's Yellow Flash. While this recognition was due in large part to his space–time ninjutsu, Tobirama was capable of moving fast enough on his own to cover a target with explosive tags without them noticing.[27] In the anime, Tobirama is shown moving quickly while underwater.[35] His chakra reserves were large enough to teleport two Tailed Beast Mode users simultaneously.[36] Chakra aside, he had a will strong enough to overcome even the nearly perfected control of the Impure World Reincarnation.[37] His chakra control was advanced enough to perform complex techniques with only one hand seal.[38][39]

Even as a child, Tobirama was a gifted sensor.[43] By simply touching the ground with his finger, he could accurately detect the presence and location of enemy shinobi in the surrounding area.[44] He was even able to sense others from countries away[45] and can identify a target's clan from their chakra.[14]

Space–Time Ninjutsu

Tobirama teleports behind Obito.

One of the various techniques Tobirama created during his life was the Flying Thunder God Technique.[49] Though it was made famous by Minato Namikaze, Tobirama's skill with it and other space–time ninjutsu is still remembered.[50] Using the technique he could instantly teleport to the location of anything or anyone marked with his (or another's) special seal.[51][52] By tagging an area with marked kunai or simply throwing the kunai with precise timing, he could move around an area quickly and strike at the most opportune moment. When used with a sword, he can launch an instanteous strike.[7] Tobirama was not limited to teleporting himself, as he could bring others with him, though he needed to provide the chakra for their transport.[53] Whether remaining in direct contact with his target or not, and as long as they were somehow connected to his chakra, he did not need to accompany who or whatever he was teleporting.[54][55]

Summoning: Impure World Reincarnation

Tobirama's most infamous creation is the Summoning: Impure World Reincarnation, which can be used to revive the dead into immortal, regenerating bodies.[56][57] He invented the Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags to take advantage of the revived bodies' natural advantages, using them in kamikaze-like attacks to create near-infinite chains of explosions on a target.[27] Tobirama has not actually be seen using the Impure World Reincarnation - and in fact labelled it kinjutsu hoping it wouldn't be used by anyone again[58] - but he was said to use it whenever he needed to clear a map;[59] it's suggested that he could only control a small number of reincarnated bodies at once.[60]

Intelligence

In battle, Tobirama is calculating, striking only when he's confident of success and without any thought of mercy.[61] According to Madara, Tobirama was known for launching surprise attacks on opponents who think they've won and have let their guard down. In order to capitalise on every possible advantage, he pays careful attention to every aspect of a battle, analysing opponents' strategies and techniques to discern their purpose, mechanics, and ultimately their weaknesses.

Other Skills

As a Senju, Tobirama was trained in a variety of shinobi skills. In the anime, he performs a genjutsu to lock a target in perpetual darkness for the technique's duration.[62] He was similarly knowledgeable of skills he has no training in, being able to recognise a toad from Mount Myōboku and different types of advanced nature transformations.

Part I

Konoha Crush

Orochimaruinvades Konoha so that he can kill his master, Hiruzen Sarutobi. Because Orochimaru wants Hiruzen to experience the same thrill of fighting a teacher as he is, he reincarnates Hashirama and Tobirama. Recognising Hiruzen and seeing how old he has gotten, Hashirama realises how long he's been dead. Tobirama, meanwhile, realises that they've been brought back with the Impure World Reincarnation, and therefore will have no choice but to fight Hiruzen. Orochimaru suppresses their personalities and forces them to attack.

Hiruzen's clone removes Tobirama's soul.

Hiruzen struggles to land an attack against Hashirama and Tobirama, their coordination and responsiveness offering him few openings. The few attacks he does land are merely regenerated by their reincarnated bodies. Because killing Orochimaru will not end the Impure World Reincarnation, Hiruzen uses the only option he has left: after creating two shadow clones, he has a clone capture each of the deceased Hokage and use the Dead Demon Consuming Seal on them. With their personalities restored, Hashirama and Tobirama apologise for being such troubles to him, just as Hiruzen apologises for the fate he has sentenced them to. He pulls the souls from their reincarnated bodies, feeding them to the Shinigami for all eternity.

Part II

Fourth Shinobi World War: Climax

At the request of Sasuke Uchiha, Orochimaru releases the souls of the first four Hokage from the stomach of the Shinigami and then reincarnates them. After taking in their surroundings, Hashirama and Tobirama are excited to meet Minato, the Fourth, and take him as a sign of Konoha's continued prosperity. When Tobirama scolds Orochimaru for his repeated use of the Impure World Reincarnation, Orochimaru instead blames Tobirama for creating it in the first place. He also blames Tobirama for a number of his other actions as Hokage, such as the Konoha Military Police Force that helped foster Uchiha dissent.

Hashirama stops Tobirama from attacking.

Hashirama reprimands Tobirama for not honouring his instructions to treat the Uchiha fairly. When Sasuke threatens to destroy Konoha, Tobirama feels validated in his treatment of the Uchiha and prepares to attack Sasuke, but Hashirama forces him to stop. When they are told of Madara Uchiha's reincarnation and participation in the ongoing Fourth Shinobi World War, Tobirama cannot be reasoned with and only Orochimaru's refined control of the Impure World Reincarnation stops him. Tobirama is forced to standby and listen as Hashirama explains his personal experiences with Madara and the Uchiha, and adds some of his own experiences after Hashirama's story ends. From listening to the four Hokage, Sasuke decides he doesn't want Konoha to be destroyed, as is Madara's current intention. Orochimaru releases the Hokage from his control so that they can help in this goal, and they set out for the site of the Allied Shinobi Forces' battle with the Ten-Tails.

The Hokage arrive on the battlefield.

Tobirama arrives on the battlefield shortly after Minato and compliments his speed. Once all the Hokage gather, they combine efforts to erect a barrier around the Ten-Tails to confine it. Tobirama must stay with the barrier in order to keep it active, so he watches as Sasuke and the Allies attack the Ten-Tails. When Obito Uchiha appears on the battlefield and prepares to revive Madara, Tobirama creates two shadow clones to go after Madara. Minato once again beats him to the punch, cutting down Obito before Madara can be revived.

Birth of the Ten-Tails' Jinchūriki

Not only was Madara's revival not his intention, but Minato's attack was too late: Obito seals the Ten-Tails into himself, becoming its jinchūriki. With his new power, Obito rips down the barrier, allowing the Hokage to finally join the fray. While trying to decide how to proceed, Obito cuts through Tobirama and one of Hashirama's wood clones. While the clone restrains Obito, Tobirama tells everyone else to evacuate the area while he uses Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags. The attack has no effect, and Hiruzen and Minato engage Obito while Tobirama regenerates. Once restored, he sends a shadow clone to redirect a Truth-Seeking Ball that's been attached to Minato back to Obito, having earlier branded him with a Flying Thunder God seal.

Tobirama teleports Naruto above Obito.

Tobirama, Minato, Sasuke, and Naruto Uzumaki coordinate efforts to attack Obito with Flying Thunder God Mutually Instantaneous Revolving Technique, but Obito emerges without damage. What's more, from observing that Minato has not regenerated an arm lost to Obito, Tobirama theorises that Obito's Truth-Seeking Balls can nullify the advantages of the Impure World Reincarnation and all other ninjutsu. In a blind gamble, Gamakichi attacks Obito with the Starch Syrup Gun, which actually seems to have some success. Tobirama and Naruto separately realise that Obito is vulnerable to senjutsu. After Naruto enters Sage Mode, Tobirama teleports him above Obito so that he can attack.

Tobirama hacks back the tree's root.

With a weakness discovered, Obito traps the Alliance within a barrier so that he can wipe them out with multiple Tailed Beast Balls. Tobirama and Minato decide that they can't teleport all the balls away in time, but Naruto comes up with a way for him and Minato to teleport the entire Alliance to safety. Impressed by their combined efforts, Tobirama assists them after they enter Tailed Beast Modes by teleporting them to Obito for another attack. Obito blocks it this time and counters by creating the Ten-Tails' tree form. The tree's roots start tearing through the Allies and, after fending off some of the roots, Tobirama teleports Naruto, Sasuke, Minato, and Hiruzen together to figure out a new plan. Naruto and Sasuke, with Hashirama's encouragement, lead the Alliance in their attack while Tobirama busies himself with teleporting shinobi to safety when they need it.

Tobirama battling Madara.

Although Obito is defeated and the Ten-Tails is removed from his body, Madara is successfully restored to life. While Madara prepares to become the Ten-Tails' next jinchūriki, Tobirama launches a desperate attack to stop him. Madara pins him with multiple chakra receivers and they share their mutual contempt for each other. Using what little mobility he has, Tobirama attacks him with Heavenly Weeping to distract Madara while Sasuke attacks him from behind. Madara blocks the attack and, over Tobirama's pleas to stop, mortally wounds Sasuke. Madara leaves and Tobirama can only watch as Sasuke's life fades. Shortly afterwards, Kabuto Yakushi arrives in time to save Sasuke. Once he's well, Sasuke removes the chakra receivers from Tobirama's body and has him teleport him to Naruto's location to face Madara.

Kaguya Ōtsutsuki Strikes

Despite their efforts, Sasuke and Naruto cannot stop Madara from initiating the Infinite Tsukuyomi. Tobirama and the other Hokage, being the only ones unaffected, converge at the location of a powerful chakra signature, but find only Madara's lower half. Tobirama contemplates using the Impure World Resurrection on Madara to ask him what happened, but they are stopped by the Sage of the Six Paths. Combining efforts with the spirits of the other dead Kage, they summon Team 7, Madara, and the tailed beasts back from Kaguya's dimension. Madara, dying, has some parting words with Hashirama, after which the Sage returns all the Kage to the Pure Land. As his soul ascends, Tobirama encourages Hashirama to entrust the future with Sasuke and Naruto.

Legacy

Although Tobirama created the Konoha Military Police Force with the intention of pacifying the Uchiha clan, it only exacerbated their feelings of marginalization and, in effect, cut them off from positions of influence in Konoha. Dissatisfaction with Konoha grew amongst the Uchiha for decades following, eventually culminating in the Uchiha Clan Downfall.[63]

Quotes

(To Hashirama and Itama) "Grown-ups are idiots. If they really want to bring an end to this endless fighting, they need to sit down with one another and reach a truce…"[5]

(To Hiruzen) "Saru, you must protect those who have faith in you and who love the village, and train up to those to whom you can entrust the next generation… from tomorrow, you will be the Hokage…!"[64]

(To Sasuke) "My brother believed that the village was something that demolish the boundaries between clans. Well in the end it wasn't that simple… My brother was too soft… and Madara too dangerous… My role as Second Hokage was to mediate between them while protecting and reinforcing the village."[14]